How to Pay of a 15 Year Mortgage Early and Fast!
Thursday, July 17th, 2008When considering their monthly repayments, many people considering buying a home look into 30 year or 15 year fixed mortgage rates. No-one wants a mortgage hanging around their neck forever but with home buyers entering the market later, an early repayment of this loan is important. It may take some time to reach a decision as there are many things to contemplate. Ensuring the repayment remains the same throughout the mortgage term is very important.
It seems that some lenders are happy to offer deals that appear too good to be true and they usually are. Loans agreed with a 15 year fixed mortgage keep the same interest rate throughout the entire life of the agreement.
There are no hidden costs involved with this type of plan which is great for many people that want a regular monthly payment. When we were looking to buy a home, my wife and I decided to go for a loan with a 15 year fixed mortgage rate.
Having a realistic, sustainable monthly payment on our mortgage was important even though we wanted to pay off our debt as soon as possible. This meant we had to consider 30 year fixed rate mortgage plans as well as those of 15 years.
Considering longer term fixed rate mortgages was one option if we could not afford a 15 year plan. Because we did not want to have a mortgage close to retirement, we hoped we would be able to afford a shorter 15 year fixed rate mortgage. Too much pressure was placed on the early repayment of the mortgage loan.
We thought about it long and hard and despite the pressure we decided to go with the 30 year loan plan. There were many things that lead us into making this choice. It was easier reaching this conclusion when I learned that my wife was expecting a baby.
Her regular monthly income would become unreliable because she wanted to be at home raising our child. Our monthly payment would have been too high if we had committed ourselves to the 15 year fixed mortgage plan. For us it just was not feasible as we would just be in over our heads. A thirty year loan brought the monthly payments down to a reasonable level.
We found that if we could make a few extra payments throughout each year then it would gradually reduce the principle sum owed. It is possible to take years off your loan if you can make a few extra payments during each year. This may be difficult but well worth the effort in the a few years down the line. Our desire for a 15 year fixed rate mortgage was second place to our more immediate needs. Things worked out well anyway, even though we were unsure about it to start with.

